Adjustable mill for cross-rolling metal billets.



I BATBNTEDSEPT. 4-, 1906 R. 0. STIEFEL & J. H.-NIOHOLSQN. ADJUSTABLE MILL FOR (moss ROLLING METAL BILLETS.

' APPLICATION FILED M ABHZG, 1901f 5 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' l/Vl/El/TORS R. 0. STIEFEL & J'..H. NICHOLSON. ADJUSTABLE MILL FOR (moss ROLLING METAL BILLETS.

APPLIOAiTION FILED MAILZG, 1901'.

5 SHEETSSHEB T 2.

. 76 A I I QM I'I/IQIGEZVTOIJ WITNESSES N0 830,462. PATENTED 81314, 1906.

R. O. STIEFEL & J. H. NICHOLSON. v 4 ADJUSTABLE MILL FOR GROSS ROLLING METAL BILLETS.

APPLICATION P-ILED MAR.26, 1901.

5 $HEETS-SHEET 3.

M T/ ags L QaIMI/ENT ORS' W L y PATENTED. SEPT. 4,1906; R. 0. STIEPEL & J. H. NICHOLSON. ADJUSTABLE MILL FOR (moss ROLLINGMETAL BILLETS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.26, 1901.

' 5 SHEETSSHEET 4.

Ms W h ymm.

No. 830,462. PATENTED SEPT. 19 06.

LL 0. STIEPEL & J. H. NICHOLSON. ADJUSTABLE MILL FOB (moss ROLLING METAL BILLETS.

APPLICATION FILED ];[AR. 26, 1901.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH CHARLES STI EFEL, OF ELLWOOD CITY. ANDJOHN H. NICHOLSON, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

TO NATlONAL TUBE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEl ADJUSTABLEJVlILL FOR CROSS-"ROLLING METAL BILLETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 4, 1906.

A li ti fil d March 26, 1901. Serial No. 52,889.

. ll. NICHOLSON, residing in the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, engineers, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Mills for Cross-Rolling Metal Billets or Partially-Formed Tubes, of which the following is a specification, referring to the accompanying drawin s, whichillustrate the best embodimentof the invention at present known to us.

The invention relates especially to crossrolling mills of the Mannesmann and Stiefel types, in which the metal is compressed and rolled between two or more rolling-bodies which may vary in form from nearlyflat disklike rolls to conical, barrel-shape, or even nearly cylindrical rolls. The metal is usually forced by the action of the rolls over a conical mandrel. V

The present invention has for its object certain means of adjusting the mill in a simple and efficacious inanner'to effect the proper positions of the two rolls in relation to the axis of the pass and in relation to the size of the billet or tube that is to be acted upon.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of an entire mill embodying the present invention, some of the parts that have no direct connection with the present invention being omitted. Fig. 2 is an eleva.

tion of the right-hand roll and its operating connections, looking at right angles to the axis of the roll. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the left-hand roll and certain of its operating connections looking at right angles to the axis of the roll, many parts being shown in central vertical section taken, through the axis of the roll. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the plane 4 4 of Figs. 1 and 3 looking toward the left, some parts being shown in full. Fig. 5 is a view, with many parts omitted, of the trunnionlike supports for the right-hand-roll shaft, showing also one of the bearings for the main driving-shaft of the mill. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the mandrel support and billetguides as seen at right angles to the axis of the pass from the left side of Fig. 1, some parts being omitted for the sake of clearness. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are explanatory diagrams in elevation, plan, and end view, showing a zone or annular element of a roll in such 'of the axes and a line parallel with the other I absolutely relation to a billet as to give rotative but no feeding effect. Figs. 10, 11, and 12 are similar views showing the same roll element placed to give feeding as well as rotative effect.

In order to best understand the principles of operation of the adjustments, a few definitions of terms as used in this specification will be a help. The axis of a single roll when considered in respect to a single other line as, for example, the longitudinal axis of the.

passcan have its relation thereto determined by-two measurements.

First, the length of the common perpendicular between the two axes, (i. 6., the two axial lines prolonged, ifnecessary,) which Will vary Y from zero (when the axes intersect) to an extent which does not usually exceed a few inches in practice. This measurement will be conveniently termed axial offset of on axis relativel to the other.

Secondly, y the angle between either one axis and intersecting the first said axis. This angle m'a be conveniently termed the axial angle. of the roll.

One other measurement only is needed to determine the relative position of a given roll to the axis of the pass, and this measurement is the position of the roll upon its axis as measured from the said common perpendicular. This may be conveniently termed the"ax'ial position or axial displacement of the roll. It is manifest that no displacement or movement of the roll and roll-axis in lines parallel with the axis of the pass can affect the operation of the roll upon the billet, (when considered irrespective of the other,rolls,) because as the billet travels axially along the pass in the operation all points of the billet successivelyreach the roll and are acted upon by it.

While the foregoing measurements and considerations determine the position of a given roll and its relation to the pass, nevertheless these considerations and these measurements do not form a simple or direct means of determining the forward-feeding and the rotatory effects of the roll upon the' -billet, and a practical worker of such a mill feels the need of a direct method of adjusting the feed relations and of adjusting the width of the pass without requiring a series of sep- I05 arate measurements and a theoretical calcu- 'lation of the eflectdue to them. The skew of the roll is of vital importance, as it determines the ratio between the forward-feeding movement and the rotative movement which the roll tends to produce upon the billet. To illustrate by an example: Figs. .7 8, and 9 show athin zone or annular element of a roll the axis of which, R R, intersects the passaxis]? P. Now draw a line in w erpendicular to and intersecting the axis of the pass at approximately the mid-length or'central point and intersecting also the roll-axis R It; Such a line a; 90 represents an imaginary axis about feeding effect of the roll will be proportional to the small angle. Such a skewing movement of the roll and its axis on the line r 20 will cause a very considerable and important increase in the ,axial offset of the roll measured by the common perpendicular p between the roll-axis and the pass-axis. The length of the common per endicular p is foreshortened in Figs-10 an 11,.but is seen in'its true length in Fig. 12. The skewing movement, While it has produced this great and important change in the axial offset, will produce very little, indeed, substantially no change, in the axial angle and a small but somewhat greater chan e in the position of the common perpendicu ar, which shifts to a .oint nearer the roll, and therefore forms an 40 dIlOOIlVGIllGIlt basis of measurement, as it is an imaginary line which has no mechanical.

counterpart or representation in the mill. From the fact that it does so shift it follows that an entirely new set of measurements would have to be taken to determine the axial offset, axial angle, and axial displacement of the roll if the feeding effect of the roll were to'be calculated by a consideration of these uantities. What is wanted in practice is a simple anddirect means of adjusting, determining, equalizing, and preserving the feed relations of two or more rolls independently of other changes and adjustments, such as changes in the width of the pass. The joint.

effect of two or more cooperating rolls is readily determined by a directtest on a billet; but this does not furnish a means of equalizing the forward-feeding effects of the several rolls in res ect to each other. The present invention, owever, provides asimple and direct means ofdeterminingthe forwardfeeding effect of each roll on the billet as com pared with its rotative effect. It accom- 'plishes this by means of an adjustment of the roll and itsaxis bodily around the line a"; w.

y is the axial angle.

For small angles of skew the forward-feeding effect is proportional to the angle of skew above defined. (Mathematically and accurately stated, the forward-feeding effect of a roll element is equal to the product of its peripheral speed multipled by the tangent of the angle of skew, and for small angles the tangent does not differ sensibly .from the angle.) r

In accordance with the present invention each one of the rolls is adjustablein at least two ways. First, it is adjustable longitudinally along its axis, which effects variation in the width ofthe pass without sensibly affecting the feeding tendency of the roll secondly, the skew of the roll, as above defined, can be changed at will. This is accomplished by having one point in the axis of each roll fixed and another point in each adjustable, so as to change the angle of skew. The niillman is therefore able to alter the width of the pass without disturbing the other adjustments, or

he can alter the feeding effects of the rolls without disturbing the width of the pass.

The corresponding adjustments of the two rolls may be coupled together, so as to preserve at all times an equality in the feeding efl'cct of two or more rolls andto balance them perfectly in their actions on the billet.

' The drawings, Figs. 1 to 6, show the invention as applied to a cross-rolling machine for piercing solid billets and forcing them onto a mandrel. The main bed-plate of the machine is marked 10, the billet guides of the pass 1 1, the chute or guide through which the billet is fed to the pass 12, the mandrel-bar holder 13, and the bed or guide upon which it is secured 14. The main driving-shaft 15 extends nearly parallel with the shaft 21 of one of the rollsfor example, the right-hand roll 20. This roll-shaft therefore may be driven by a flexible and extensible connection 17 and a fixed shaft 18 by directly gearing the shaft 18 tothe shaft 15, as shown'in Fig. 1. The pther roll-shaft is driven by an aux- 'liaryshaft 16, bevel-geared to the shaft 15, as shown, and connected by spur-gears with shaft 19, turning in fixed bearings and connected by flexible connections 17, so as to drive the corresponding roll-shaft. The rolls 20 are'rigidly secured to the ends of the rollshafts 21. The roll-shafts are mounted each in two movable bearings, one of which, 22, nearer the rolls, is mounted to pivot upon a transverse axis and is provided for this purpose with trunnions 23, Fig. 5, like an oldfashioned cannon. Each shaft is free to move lengthwise through its bearing 22. The bearing 24, on the other hand, does not allow the shaft to move longitudinally through it, and for this purpose the shaft and hearing are provided with end-thrust rings 25, as seen in, Fig. 3. The bearing 24 is mounted Within a rotary sleeve 30, which is provided with a gear 81 for rotating it upon the shaft and is screw-threaded, as at 32, into a surrounding non-rotatin head 35. The rotation of the gear 31 and the sleeve 30, with which it is rigid, causes the sleeve 30 to be screwed into or out of the head 35, and thereby causes an threaded at to a nut or block which moves.

with the wedges 41. The vertical adjustment of the head 35 by the means just described raises the outer end of the shaft, causing it to be tilted or turned upon the trunnions 23. The axis of the trunnion 23 is in the same plane with the axis of the'shaft 21, Fig. 5. The point where these axes intersect is exactly 'or approximately opposite the center or mid-length of the pass, Fig. 1, so that the line 00 00 represents the line upon which the roll-axis is skewed and adjusted by raising or lowering one of its bearings, as described. When, therefore, they adjustable bearing is placed at such a position that the axis of the roll-shaft intersects the central longitudinal axis of the billet in the pass, no feeding effect upon the billetis produced by the rotation of the roll. This position is the no-feed position of the roll. When, however, the adjustable bearing of the roll is raised or lowered from such a position, the feeding effect for a given speed of the roll willbe proportional to such raising or lowering. Therefore the two rolls may readily be made to produce exactly equal feed effects.

The axial adjustment of the rolls is accomplished either manually or by machine power at will. Thus in addition to a hand-lever 80 and 81, Fig. 2, connected to give motion to .the gear-wheel 31, driving connections and gearing are provided so that the two rolls and their shafts may be simultaneouslyand equally adjusted by power derived from the main driving-shaft 15. These connections are as follows: A beveled gear on the driving-shaft 15 meshes with and drives beveled gear 51 on a shaft 52, which carries at its other end a friction-cone 53, engaging either one of two friction-cones 54 and 55, so as to drive the cones54 and 55 in either direction at will. The cones 54 and 55 are splined to the worm-shaft 56, which is provided with two worms 57, which respectively actuate the two adjusting mechanisms of the rolls 20. The shaft 56 is driven by the friction-cones 54 and 55, which are adjustable by means of a clutch 58, soas to bring either cone into operative engagement rwith 'the fric tion-cone 53. The adjusting-gearing for the right-hand roll consists of the upright worm-shaft 60', driven by the worm 57; the

beveled gear 61 meshing with and turning the idler 62, which ismounted concentrically withthe trunnion 23; the beveled gear 63, shaft 64, pinion 65, and idler-pinion 66. The idler-pinion 66 engages the gear-wheel 31 for adjusting the'roll and the pinion 65. The idler-pinion 66 is made long enough to mesh with the gear 31 at all positions of the gear 31. In order that the shaft 64 and the pinions 65 and. 66 may be maintained in constant-parallelism with the roll-shaft 21, they are mounted in a movable frame 67, which is centered to the trunnion 23, (see Figs. 1, 2, and 5) and which rests at the other end upon the trunnion 37 of the vertically adjustable roll-shaft hearing. The left-hand roll and its shaft are actuated by similar connections which are numbered, respectively, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and 77. By the shaft 56, therefore, and its two worms 57 a cooperative connection between the two mechanisms by which the rolls and roll-shafts are moved longitudinally along their axes is effected. By this connection the axial position or axial dis placement of the rolls is adjusted simultaneously and equally for both rolls.

The general operation of the machine (apart from the features of adjustability and the means by which the adjustability is accomplished) not being the subject of the present invention and being, moreover, well understood, need not be furtherexplained.

From the foregoing'it will be seen that the axial offset of either roll is changeable at will Without materially changing the axial position or displacement of the roll. Conversely, the axial position of either or both rolls may be changed without affecting the axial offset; also, the feeding effect is determinable directly, being proportional to the angular adjustment of the rolls from the no-feed or ,zero position. We are aware that what we term axial position or "axial displacement has been called by some eccentricity and that what we term "axial angle has been called angularity., Using these other terms in place of those defined by us above it is evident that the offset and feeding effects of our mill may be changed without substantially changing the angularity or eccentricity, and, on the other hand, the eccentricity of skew of our rolls does not sensibly change their axial angle or angularity.

Without attempting to describe or enumerate the modifications in form, proportions, and detail of which the invention is obviously capable we claim as the novel and character-- istic features of our invention the following:

1. In a seamless-tube or tubular -blank rolling mill, cooperating skew-rolls mounted to be adjustable longitudinally of their axes,

for so adjusting them, and means for ad'usting thejro lsto vary the feed relations I su stantially independently ofand Without I rolls at all positions of their said adjustment,

and means for an ularly adjusting the rolls to varythe feed re ations.

3 In a seamless-tube or tubular-blank rollingmill, a pair of rolls, and adjustable means for varying the offset, and eccentricity (t. e. their axial position or axial displacement along their axes), said eccentricity or axial position being adjustable at all positions of offset without disturbing the offset, for substantially'the purposes set forth.

4. In a cross-rolling mill having at least two rolls, adjustments for changing the axial positions of each roll along its own axis, and mechanism for actuating the said adjustments, and adjustments for changing the axial oflset of the rolls in respect to the axis of the pass, and means for actuating said ad justments, substantially as set forth.

5. Ina cross-rolling mill, a roll adjustment for adjusting a roll angularly upon a fixed point in its axis which point lies in a line perpendicular to the axis of .thepass and intersecting the pass at substantially the mid length of the pass, said adjustment combining a pivotally-mounted bearing for the rollshaft, the pivotal line of which passes through the said fixed point, and a movable bearing for the roll-shaft which is adjustable in a direction to swing the roll-shaft about the said pivotal line.

6. In a cross-rolling mill, a roll and rollshaft, two adjustable bearings therefor, one of said bearings being pivotal-1y mounted to turn on an axis that extends through the said shaft, and the other of said bearings being mounted to swing the said shaft upon the said pivotal bearing.

7. In a cross-rolling mill, a roll and rollshaft, two adjustable bearings therefor, one

I of saidbearings being pivotally mounted to turn on an axis, that extends through the said shaft, and the other of said bearings being mounted to swing the said shaft upon the said pivotal bearing, and being also longitudinally adjustable and provided with thrustbearings for the 'said shaft.

8. In a cross-rolling mill, a roll and rollshaft, two adjustable bearings therefor, one

of said bearings being mounted to move longitudinally of the shaft and having means for securing the shaft against longitudinal movement in the said bearing, and the other of said bearings being constructed to permit the free longitudinal movement of the shaft throu h it.

9. n a cross-rolling mill the combination of at least two rolls, roll-shafts, shaft-beanings therefor, and means for pivotaliy adjusting the roll-shaft bearings about a fixed pivotal point to change the axial offsets of the.

rolls substantially independently of and with out disturbing the axial angles of the roll-axes relatively to the axis of the pass.

10. In a cross rolling mill, the combination of at least two roll-shafts and conical or conoidal rolls having their respective axial angles acute, a pivotally-mounted bearing for each of said shafts, said pivotally-mounted bearings being in positions to be cut by an imaginary plane passing through the pass and perpendicular to the axis of the pass, means for maintaining the said shafts in fixed position when adjusted upon the said pivot-' pass, means for maintaining the said shafts in fixed position when adjusted upon said pivotally-mounted bearings, mechanicalpower-actuated connections for adjusting the shafts longitudinally at all positions of said pivotal adjustment, and driving connections IOO for driving the shafts and rolls at all positions of their adjustment.

Signed this 22d day of March, 1901, at Ellwood city, Pennsylvania.

RALPH CHARLES STIEFEL. Witnesses:

TONY TURNER, S. P. TURNER. The foregoing specification signed this 19th day of March, 1901, at Pittsburg, Pennsyi vania.

JOHN H. NICHOLSON.

Witnesses:

HELEN WOLFE, H. W, HERBERT. 

